Wolfpack just believing — and defeating ranked teams

Friday

Oct 6, 2017 at 1:06 AMOct 6, 2017 at 10:29 AM

Bob Sutton Times-News @tnBobSutton

RALEIGH — There’s that sense of something big brewing from within the North Carolina State football team.

“You can just feel it right now in our locker room,” Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said after Thursday night’s 39-25 victory against No. 17 Louisville at Carter-Finley Stadium. “They believe they’re the best team.”

There was no reason to doubt that notion in the latest Atlantic Coast Conference game as the No. 24 Wolfpack (5-1 overall, 3-0 ACC) compiled 520 yards of total offense and answered every challenge Louisville issued.

“When you can play like that in an environment like that, it was electric,” Doeren said.

N.C. State picked up a second marque victory to run its winning streak to five games.

“We just put the pieces of the puzzle together and believed that we could really make something happen,” receiver Kelvin Harmon said. “As the season goes on, it keeps growing.”

Running back Nyheim Hines ran for two touchdowns as N.C. State clung to a lead for most of the final three quarters. The outcome also allowed the Wolfpack to reverse a 41-point loss to the Cardinals from a season ago.

Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson of Louisville tried to rally his team, which closed to 32-25 when he ran in from 3 yards out with 4:10 remaining. The extra-point kick was blocked by Bradley Chubb.

The Cardinals (4-2, 1-2) regained possession with 3:09 left, needing to go 89 yards. But on the second play, Germaine Pratt returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown.

With a chance to rebuild a 10-point lead on the opening possession of the second half, N.C. State kicker Carson Wise missed on a 35-yard field-goal attempt.

At the other end, sophomore Blanton Creque booted a career-long 48-yarder, trimming the Louisville deficit to 17-13.

The Wolfpack made the most of its next possession, driving 78 yards in nine plays and scoring on Hines’ 7-yard run.

Jackson orchestrated a drive that resulted in his 4-yard scoring run with 12:39 to play. The Cardinals failed on a two-point conversion pass, leaving the score at 24-19.

N.C. State scored 10 points in a 3 ½-minute span of the second quarter to break a tie and forge a 17-10 halftime lead.

After a scoreless first quarter, the teams started moving and converting.

Finley connected with Harmon for a 48-yard touchdown play on the first play following Finley’s sneak to convert on fourth-and-1. At the time, it became the second-longest pass play of the season for the Wolfpack.

The Cardinals responded with a 75-yard drive, with Jackson throwing a 23-yard strike to Seth Dawkins, who made a bobbling catching as he crossed into the end zone.

N.C. State was back in business after Jaylen Samuels’79-yard catch-and-run. But the Wolfpack settled for Wise’s 21-yard field goal with 5:03 left in the half.

Following a punt, the Wolfpack traveled 77 yards on seven plays, with Hines running 11 yards for a touchdown.

Louisville countered with Creque’s 28-yard field goal on the last play of the half.

N.C. State reached the Louisville 10-yard line on its first possession, but a pair of plays that went nowhere and a third-down fumble thwarted that threat. That was the Wolfpack’s first turnover since the opener.

■ EXTRA POINTS …: N.C. State redshirt sophomore safety Jarius Morehead, an Eastern Guilford graduate, racked up a career-high 11 tackles. That was the most tackles for any player in the game. … N.C. State won at home in a matchup of two ranked teams for the first time since defeating Wake Forest in 1992. … Louisville’s opponent has scored first in three games this season.